Baby on board
by that-first-glance-feeling
Summary: Little fluff piece inspired by a certain crib with a navy-themed bedding set that I found yesterday. Emma is pregnant and daddy-to-be Killian is all eager to get started on their nursery. He insists on saying he knows they're having a boy, while Emma's intuition doesn't seem to be cooperating with her this time around.


**A/N: inspired by an adorable crib I found at Zara Home yesterday (you can find a picture of it in my blog tagged under baby-on-board) and dedicated to the lovely Sara's birthday :) Enjoy all the daddy!Killian**

* * *

**Baby on Board**

* * *

She tells him on a Tuesday night. She's finally decided to actually get a new place and ask him to move in with her, and it may have been months since they started living at their quaint little house by the docks - which they chose mostly because it stays within a walking distance from where the Jolly is moored - but they are still celebrating their new home on a nightly basis. Not that there are many (or any, actually) surfaces left without being christened in the house, but that doesn't mean they can't repeat their preferred mode of celebration on their favourite spots.

Emma guides him to their sofa as soon as they walk through the door of their house by the docks and he is, as always, happy to follow wherever she leads him. The problem is, she's never been very good with words, that's always been his department, so he'll have to excuse her for borrowing some of his.

"Killian..." She takes a deep breath and takes his hand and hook in both her hands, looking into his bottomless blues to find concern immediately creeping in with the seriousness in her voice. "Remember that time when you said I had a little pirate in me?"

"Aye. What of it, love?" His face is unreadable, so she just sends a silent prayer to all the gods above that he doesn't panic and walk out on her now.

"You could say that with a little more truth to it now..." she says as she brings his hand to rest on her stomach, her own hand covering his as she looks up to see the different emotions flickering in his face.

Confusion. A quick flash of disbelief that fades as fast as it came. Realisation. _Awe_.

"Swan..." He breathes her name and stares at her like she's just performed a miracle for him, and it's the hormones' are definitely to blame for the way she tears up when he proceeds to dust kisses all over her still flat belly before moving up to do the same with her face.

* * *

They tell her parents and Henry the next day, and her son runs to hug her as her parents do the same, surrounding her with arms, warmth, love, and watery smiles. Killian is standing there a few feet away from the family huddle, watching them with an even more sentimental smile than the one she caught him wearing when her baby brother had just been born, and she's about to motion for him to come join them but her father beats her to it, disentangling himself from the group hug just long enough to grab Killian's sleeve and drag him into the Charming huddle.

"In case you still didn't know, mate, you're part of this family, too."

She thinks her father's voice sounds as overly emotional as her mother's happy sobs, but then she swears she feels something moist touching her skin when Killian tucks his chin on her shoulder and wraps his arms around her and Henry from behind. Maybe she should be crying, too, but Emma can't think of a time when she'd felt this blissful and content in her entire life, and she decides to save her tears for another time.

She didn't think the moment would come that very same night, when Killian and Henry enter the house together, stopping before her with mirroring boyish grins and sparkling eyes. Her kid moves forward to reveal a shopping back he was hiding behind his back, and she looks up to see Killian scratching that same old spot behind his ear, his smile suddenly turning sheepish.

She opens the bag and eagerly tears her way through the wrapping to discover a stuffed Captain Hook, complete with long red coat, waxed moustache, perms and all.

"The lad insisted the baby should know exactly who his father is," Killian says, walking over to Henry and ruffling his hair affectionately, a gesture which was sure to earn him a mildly annoyed grunt. He is very pleased get a tongue sticking out as a bonus before continuing, "so I told him we'd get the toy so the little one would learn from an early age what I do _not_ look like."

Emma laughs at her boys and her heart swells realising how lucky she already was to have them in her life, and for a second she fears the moment when the baby comes because she honestly can't imagine feeling happier than this. It most definitely is the hormones' fault when a thick stream of tears finds a way down her face as she barely manages to tell Henry how she loved the present.

"Where should I put it, mum?" Henry asked with an excited smile on his face.

She turns in Killian's embrace, who was quick as lightening to pull her into him and letting her soak his shirt with her tears, to look at Henry and consider his question. "I don't know, we haven't thought about it yet." She looks up and watches her pirate's face suddenly turn from bliss to moderate panic just before he answers her kid.

"Uh, I suppose we should use the guest room for the baby," he said, looking at her as he silently asked for her opinion.

"That would be perfect," she said, tightening her arms around his waist and nodding energetically at him. "You can put it in our room for now, Henry," she told her kid, who went off in the direction of said guest room instead. Emma let out a happy sigh and thought they would be the luckiest parents in the world if their child turned out to be half as sweet as Henry was.

She was brought back from thoughts of a blue-eyed baby being held with the utmost care and gently rocked back and forth in Killian's arms when she felt him pressing a kiss to the top of her head. "Are you okay?"

"Aye, love. It's just, our little one is on the way and there's so much to do and plan, and we haven't even started yet," he told her with genuine worry showing through the creases marring his forehead.

"In case you missed it, we've just decided where the baby's room will be. I'd say that's a start." That earned her a chuckled and another kiss in her hair. "We've got plenty of time, Killian. We'll have everything ready by the time the baby comes, you'll see."

"We'll make sure of that, Swan. I don't want our child to lack anything."

"Hey," she said, pulling away a little to look into his eyes. "Our child isn't even born yet and it already has two parents, a brother, and grandparents who can't wait to meet them. This is baby is going to be so _loved_ and _wanted_ by all of us that it will never lack anything, you'll see."

Emma barely got the chance to see a hint of tears welling up in his eyes before he pulled her into his arms again and released a deep breath, tucking his nose in her hair and breathing her in for a few moments before he found his voice again. "That's all I could ever want for him."

"Him?" She said, laughing a little at the confident nod he gave her in reply. "How do you know it's going to be a boy?"

"As elated as I would feel having a little princess of our own to spoil rotten," he pulled away to rub his hand gently along her stomach, "I've a feeling we're having a little lad, Swan. Haven't I said as much to you when we went back in time?"

"Oh, I didn't realise that's what you meant back then," she rolled her eyes and his grin widened even more before he placed a kiss on the tip of her nose. "But I guess we'll just have to wait and see, won't we?"

"That we will, love."

* * *

_**K: Pick you up at the station for our lunch date?**_

She gets his text the following Monday and immediately knows he's on to something.

_E: Why are not meeting at Granny's as always?_

_**K: I have a surprise for you :-)**_

_E: Killian_

_**K: Emma**_

_E: What are you up to, pirate?_

_**K: You shall find out soon, Swan. I'll see you at 12.**_

_E: Alright, fine. I'll see you then._

He's there on time as always, and he takes her hand with a mischievous grin on his face before they start walking towards the centre of Storybrooke. He is definitely up to something, so she's not even surprised when he tugs her arm slightly to make them turn right instead of going straight ahead to Granny's. She was surprised, though, when they stopped in front of _Sleeping Beauties_, the baby store Philip and Aurora opened shortly after their little boy turned three.

"What do you think, Swan?" He asks as he points to a crib on the window display. The wooden crib is plain white, it has this simple yet classic air about it, she would have to admit it looks absolutely perfect for the nursery they've only just begun planning. But what really catches her attention is the bedding. The bed sheets are double sided, you can either choose the side with a navy blue anchor pattern on a white background or the other way around, and she would be lying if she said she didn't want to get the whole set even before he points the themed pillows - one of which reads _sail the seven seas _in blue embroidery - to her attention. "Should we get it for our little one?" His words tumble out of his mouth fast and he sounds as euphoric as when she first invited him to watch Netflix with her, even more so actually, and it breaks her heart to have to turn him down.

"I love it, Killian. All of it. The crib, the bedsheets, the pillows, even that stuffed anchor over there," she points to an anchor-shaped pillow sitting on a cushioned rocking chair on the far end of the display that he missed somehow, and he promptly suggests they get the anchor _and _the rocking chair, too. "But we won't find out the baby's sex in another three months."

"I told you, Swan, I know we're having a little lad. Never doubt a pirate's instincts. Unless..." he finally tears his gaze away from the crib to look at her, his brows knitting together as he tilts his head to look at her with a bemused countenance. "Is your gut telling you otherwise, love? Are we having a little duckling princess?"

"I don't know!" Her words come out in a rush and he's frowning even more at her, this time showing a good amount of concern as he asks her what's wrong. "I _actually _don't know. I love that you have this feeling about our baby being a boy, and even my mum agrees with you no matter how annoyed my dad gets."

He chuckles, taking her hand and lacing their fingers together. "You can't blame him, love. Of course he wants us to have a girl. He loves you brother, but we know he still wishes he had the chance to dote on a little baby princess of his own."

"I know," she says, chuckling a little. "It's not that."

"What is it, then?" He asks, his thumb rubbing mindless circles on the back of her hand as he patiently waits for her answer.

"It's just that _I _don't feel anything. I have no idea whether we're having a boy or a girl, and I'm always the one who gets a feeling about anything and everything. You know me."

"That I do, Swan." He brings their interlinked hands to his lips and places a soft kiss on her knuckles, his eyes never leaving hers as he looks at her with so much adoration she briefly wonders if anything she does could ever make him look at her differently.

After momentarily joining the dark side and letting her inner demons get the best of her, back when she responded to each of his attempts to bring back the real her by pushing him further away and even hurting him once, she knows nothing could ever change the way he looks at her - the way he feels about her.

"And I'm sure it's only because you have too much on your mind these days, love. The whole town's been asking you about the pregnancy, offering advice and giving their opinions on everything. It's nice of them, but I know you're feeling overwhelmed with all the unwanted attention."

"You know me too well for your own good, pirate." She rests her head on his shoulder, tucking herself further into his side as they resume admiring the window. She smiles up at him when he starts running his hand up and down her arm, his nails scratching lightly and leaving a trail of goosebumps in their wake in that way he knows she loves.

"Always an open book, my Swan." He smiles back at her before capturing her lips in a soft kiss. "Did you know it with Henry?"

"From the day I found out," she says with a sigh. "But I'll let you know as soon as I have my own verdict on whether we're having a little pirate or princess. For now, I think we should take a closer look at that crib."

He kisses her one more time before letting her lead him into the store. They spend almost two hours looking around the place, checking a huge variety of bedding motifs ranging from unicorns and fairies to spaceships, ogling a particularly adorable ducklings-on-a-pond bedding set that makes her tear up (she pretends she doesn't see him signalling that one to the cheerful sales assistant), looking at a few mahogany cribs only to decide they really liked the white one they saw first, and finally pausing to play around when they found a little plastic castle for toddlers for a while.

(She may or may not have put on one of the tiaras as he went down on one knee and asked her to marry him again.)

(She definitely said yes.)

(She most definitely did not tear up again.)

They finally walk out of the store carrying three bags worth of a ton of onesies, little shoes and shocks, stuffed toys and the anchors bedding set. They decide to skip lunch altogether and go straight to Storybrooke's only department store, determined to have the walls of their former guest room painted baby blue by dinner time.

* * *

They walk out of the ultrasound room three months later holding hands and she finds herself tearing up _again _as they can't stop staring at the picture of their _son_.

"So, do you think our little Liam will like his navy-themed nursery?" She asks him in between sniffles.

He swallows hard and averts his gaze for a moment before wiping her tears away with his thumb pad. She can distinctly see the red rims that encircle his eyes, too. "I hope he will."

"You know what?" She cups his face with both hands and revels in the way he immediately rests his forehead against hers, bumping their noses together in that adorable way of his. "I'm finally have a feeling about our baby, and I _know_ he will love it."

* * *

**I hope you liked it, and you know I absolutely love reading your reviews so please leave a comment if you feel so inclined :) **


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